Impulsive and premeditated aggression: a factor analysis of self-reported acts

Although aggression research in general has been hampered by a lack of obje ctive measurements of aggressive acts, two types of aggressive acts, impuls ive vs, premeditated, have been studied extensively in recent years. These two types of aggression have been primarily measured by structured or semi- structured interviews. The current study was designed to assess the constru ct validity of these two types of aggression using a self-report questionna ire which included items gleaned from the content of interviews used in pas t studies. For this study, 216 college students assessed their own aggressi ve acts rather than answering general questions about aggression. The stude nts were not significantly different from normative sample groups on self-r eport measures of impulsiveness, aggression, and anger/hostility. A PCA fac tor analysis with a promax rotation of the items on the self-report questio nnaire identified four factors: impulsive aggression; mood on the day the a ct occurred; premeditated aggression; and agitation. Thus, impulsive and pr emeditated aggression are independent constructs which exist in varying deg rees among these 'normal' persons in a non-clinical sample. Impulsive aggre ssion was characterized in part by feelings of remorse following the acts a nd by thought confusion. Premeditated aggression was related to social gain and dominance. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.